James Whelan started with a small open lake boat in 1991 bringing groups of four people on the River Shannon and Lough Derg. In 1999 a 12-seater passenger boat was purchased in Dingle County Kerry, brought to Killaloe and called the “Brian Boru”. This proved to be very successful and the following year a new 50-seater passenger boat called the “Spirit of Killaloe” was acquired. It was launched on the 27th of May 2000 by Sheila de Valera Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. In 2004 James was joined by his wife Aoife.